Syracuse (WSYR-TV) - With more than a month remaining before Election Day, citizens are being bombarded by political advertisements - both positive and negative. Some campaigns have chosen to run negative advertisements, despite knowing that most voters are turned off by them.
Syracuse University Political Science Professor Grant Reeher says the negative ads are a strategic move selected not to sway votes toward a candidate, but to dissuade voters from going to the polls at all. "The decision to run one isn't always made on Day One, but they're always thinking if we get to this point what are we going to say, what is going to be our negative message," he said.
Voter Mark Williams says that is exactly the kind of effect the ads have on him. "It kind of makes me opposed to the whole political process in its entirety, so I kind of tend to not get involved at all," he said.
The impact of the ads may increase the chances that the candidate behind them will be elected, but those votes will come out of a smaller pool. It doesn't seem to matter, Reeher adds, whether the ads are officially endorsed by a candidate or if they're run by another group, the public seems to treat them all the same.
Reeher says the public should prepare for a lot more negative ads this political season, because he doesn't believe they will be going away anytime soon.
